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| Prehistoric Park (2006) |
Right off the bat, the premise of the show is pretty intriguing. Travelling back in time to not only see extinct animals, but bring them back to the present day and give them a home in a nature reserve. This is not only something that captivated me as a 10-year-old who previously legitimately referred to dinosaurs as 'sharp-teeth' and 'three-horns', but they also manage to get a lot of mileage out of this premise over the 6 episode run. There's not only the prehistoric rescue missions themselves, but also caring for the animals once they're in the modern day. One of the best things the show does is treat the animals like... well, animals. Rarely are the creatures viewed as monsters, though they ultimately ride this line with some of the carnivores as far as they can. You have a T. rex in your show and you kind of need it to be scary, which they pull off rather well while still keeping those inherent animalistic traits. One of the ways they accomplish this is by drawing lots of parallels to modern-day animals and adapting those traits to the prehistoric animals. They basically treat the sabre-toothed cats like lions, the mammoth like an elephant, dinosaurs like birds wherever they can, and it just makes the show feel so much more real. The other masterstroke here is that they anthropomorphise the creatures as far as they can, sort of imbuing personalities to some of them. The creatures are rarely just animals in the eyes of Nigel and the team, and that extra level of care adopted by the park keepers is one of the things that sets this apart from something like Jurassic Park, where sometimes you're rooting for the animals to become monsters and eat people.
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| Nigel Marven |
Here, all the human characters are not only intelligent enough where you could believe they'd know how to care for these animals and make them feel at home in the 21st century, but they're also really likeable as people. Nigel Marven does a fantastic job as the main face of this show, and it certainly helps that this is not his first time acting across from CGI animals. He brings a real sense of zoological wonder to his expeditions, and his level of excitement at seeing a Triceratops or a Smilodon for this first time is genuinely believable. He also does a great job at educating the audience without even knowing they're being educated, and he brings a level of authenticity to his performance that you can miss your first time through due to just being entertained by watching his adventures. David Jason is also excellent as the narrator, and he never feels out of place or unnecessary. All of his comments are either for educational purposes or to help explain what's happening in the story, and Jason's voice is commanding enough while also calming enough to have that perfect balance for a mockumentary like this. Suzanne McNabb does a fine job as the vet, especially considering this is her only acting credit. But my favourite character in the series by far is Park Keeper Bob, played by Rod Arthur. Arthur describes Bob as someone with 'avuncular qualities' and I wholeheartedly agree, since I genuinely want Bob as an uncle. The way he talks to the animals like they're actual people is so charming, and through Bob we also get a lot of quality comedy. The writers liked to use Bob as something of a punching bag, especially later in the series when he's struggling to keep up with his ever-increasing workload. The main cast also have great chemistry with each other, though they don't interact on screen as much as you'd think. They have the sort of comradery where you can tell they've known each other long before the series began, and some of my favourite moments are when pairings of the three or all three of them together are celebrating a job well done, and relief and sense of accomplishment they share after some of the more trying times is great to see.
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| Rod Arthur as Bob |
The series is also just really well written. I mentioned before that the series does an excellent job as an educational tool, but they also tell some really great stories here. My personal favourite is Episode 4 with the Smilodon, as that episode really has the whole package. It explores a well-known animal, it has a mystery element to it, it has a good build to the end of the mission, and there's also some really well handled emotion here. It doesn't pull its punches, and I remember almost crying at this episode as a kid. The series doesn't just cover the well-known animals, however. T. rex, Woolly Mammoths and Sabre-Toothed Cats are almost a must, but we also get a focus on Microraptor, a dinosaur that had only just been discovered when the series went into production. Along with the giant insects of the Carboniferous period and a dinosaur-hunting crocodile, there's a decent amount of variety to the rescue missions. But it's not just those standalone stories. As the series progresses, the show jumps back to the park itself to show how some previous rescues are getting on, and there are a few nice arcs here. The Ornithomimus get a big focus, as do the Smilodon when they show up, and there's a sizeable T. rex focus in just about every episode. The biggest offenders are the Titanosaurs, who get under Bob's skin at pretty much every turn. It makes a lot of sense to do this, as while the series progresses, there are more and more animals to look after, and the show even addresses that Prehistoric Park is becoming more and more understaffed as time goes on. This leads to a final sequence that really feels like it belongs in a finale, and feels entirely justified given the build up of park problems as the series goes on. I really desperately wanted a second season more than anything as a kid, but with the ending being what it is, it works fine enough as a standalone season.
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| Suzanne |
You may notice I haven't yet touched on how the animals look, and there's a good reason for that. Don't get me wrong, for 2006 graphics, the animals hold up remarkably well, to the point that my 10-year-old self was temporarily fooled into thinking they were real, and the mix of practical effects and CGI works really well for the most part. The problem I have is when the same model and animations clearly get repeated over and over again. Sometimes it's just showing the same shot as something we've seen before, but other times it's noticeably the same animal doing the same thing copy-pasted in the same shot. I understand it would have been overkill to model each individual animal differently, but mixing up the movements in those moments would have gone a long way. There are also a few discrepancies mid-scene that kind of stand out; an injury going missing, blood splatter vanishing, stuff like that, and they are few and far between, but still stick out like a sore thumb when they're there, though that may just be because I've watched this show so often I recognise when stuff like that comes up. The only other minor quibble I have with the series is how it doesn't really try to hide the fact that its not a real documentary, mainly with how the camerawork is utilised. Stuff like impossible camera shots from the animals' point-of-view, cameramen disappearing from wide shots where there should be cameramen present, sweeping crane shots that really shouldn't work, like a tracking shot following the blast radius of a meteorite, stuff like that. I'm not too opposed to it, as stuff like that works really well for a piece of entertainment, and it's not like the show was always trying to convince you that it's really happening in real life or anything, but occasionally it does stick out a bit too much for my liking. Specifically stuff where Nigel has the cameraman get back into the jeep to avoid a rampaging animal, yet within that same scene, we get a wide shot of the chase and Nigel is alone in the car, things like that get on my nerves, but in general I can overlook most of it. Lastly, and I'll touch on this very briefly, but the soundtrack is utterly sublime. It's orchestrated beautifully, and it's varied enough to get basically any emotion you want out of a scene: wonder, tension, sadness, triumph, this soundtrack has it all, and it's brilliant to listen to.
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| Terrence and Matilda |
Prehistoric Park (2006) has stood the test of time for me, and is still one of my favourite things to watch. I'd definitely recommend it to any dinosaur-lover and, as I'm living proof of, even anyone who knows absolutely nothing about prehistoric life. Whatever your level of understanding, you will have a blast with this show. 9.5/10.
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